Saada, the Wife of Abraham Ben-Chimol, and Préciada, One of Their Daughters

Artist:

Eugène Delacroix (French, Charenton-Saint-Maurice 1798–1863 Paris)

Date:

1832

Medium:

Watercolor over graphite on wove paper

Dimensions:

8-3/4 x 6-3/8 in. (22.2 x 16.2 cm)

Classification:

Drawings

Credit Line:

Bequest of Walter C. Baker, 1971

Accession Number:

1972.118.210

Not on view

Delacroix produced this sumptuous watercolor on a trip to North Africa in 1832. He accompanied his friend the Count de Mornay on his mission as good-will ambassador to the Sultan of Morocco, Abd-er-Rahman II. Assigned to the delegation as dragoman was the Jewish interpreter Abraham Ben-Chimol (Abraham Benchimol) of Tangiers, who introduced the Frenchmen to his wife and to his daughter, pictured here in her bridal attire. In his "Journal," Delacroix described in extensive detail a Jewish wedding he attended in Tangiers on February 21, 1832.